Development of RF GD-OES technique for chemical qualification of BWR and PHWR core components

The present paper discusses about a new method developed for determining the quality of BWR and PHWR core components with respect to chemistry viz; determination of alloying elements as well as impurities using Radio Frequency Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometer (RF GD-OES). Various experimental parameters of Glow discharge plasma such as forward power, Argon gas pressure inside plasma chamber, pre-integration time and integration time have been optimized using 'Single parameter alternative method'. The method has been validated using Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) and also by comparing with other techniques such as AAS and ICP-AES using statistical tests like F-test & t-test. (author)